Rickenbacker TR-50

My Rickenbacker TR50B was built in 1977. It has got 2 chanels witch can be switched with a footswitch. The channels are a clean chanel (Volume, Bass, Trebble) and the second chanel is: (Volume, Distortion, Bass, Mid, Trebble) Distortion on a bass amp is great fun but realy misses alot of tone. The overall sound of the amp is good! it even has a stereo imput option for the Rickenbacker stereo basses.

I play a cheap Stagg bass on it. Thats the reason it sounds a bit flat overall but other basses sound way better on this amp.
The distortion on the 2nd chanel isnt all good but a cool feature.

Ive owned it for about 2 years now but it was used alot before i owned it. But it realy is built to last.

Ive done some small repairs myself. (change on/off switch)

I love it!!

These are bullet proof. For any guitar or bass player. A very professional any quality amp. This amp will still be playiny music while all the new high tech stuff is dead and gone. I gave $200.00 for mine and got a steal.

Great Sound. The better the instrument the better the sound.

Bullet proof

I'd buy another

Year unknown. The amp is good enough for the styles I play because I use a multi-effects unit and use only the clean channel. It is a two channel amp, a clean channel and a distortion channel. It has a footswitch input but I don't own a footswitch. No onboard channel switching. No headphone jack, one external speaker jack, 5 inputs: 2 clean channel inputs, 1 stereo input, and 2 distortion channel inputs.
No effects loop. No reverb (which is disappointing) but my Zoom 80\80's reverb simulations are good enough for me. The amp's distortion
is way too wimpy for me, but sounds good for blues riffs. It has plenty of power (50 watts RMS), great for gigs, and while still a little fuzzy at peak volume it is much clearer than my Fender Combo 85 at peak volume. Sounds surprisingly warm for a solid state.

I play an array of guitars, including a 1976 Strat, a mexican Strat, a Gibson Explorer reissue, and a Jackson King V. The amp sounds great with the Gibson and the Jackson, probably because of the humbuckers. I prefer the sound of my Strats' with my Fender combo. The TR50 sounds weak and empty with the Strats. I play mostly metal and hard rock, but also enjoy playing blues and classic rock. It sounds great for all styles, but shines when cranked up with a good blues tune. When cranked past 4 it begins to get a little buzz going, but the sound of the guitar easily drowns it out. It doesn't have a wide tonal range, it's basicly either twangy or warm & bluesy. The distortion just makes it sound a little raspy. The clean channel is only slightly distorted at peak volume. An overall good sound.

I've owned this amp for about 2 years and I've never had any problems, but I wouldn't play a gig without a backup amp no matter what kind of main amp I had. Better safe than sorry!

I've looked all over the net and couldn't find anything on this or any other TR model amp until I came across this site. I agree with other submitters of TR model summeries when they say that they doubt Rickenbacker even remembers making these amps.

I have been playing well for about 10 years and I owna Fender Combo 85, and a Crate GX15. I also own a Martin D-28 and a Yamaha accoustic, as well as the electric guitars I mentioned earlier. I think the amp sounds good, but it is definetly a hard to find amp, so I don't think I would look for another one if it were stolen or lost. I don't really love the amp, but I sure a heck don't hate it! Compared to most modern 50 watt solid state combos I've played, this is one of the best sounding. Overall it is a good and very reliable amp. It would be hard to find a better amp(for me, anyway) for the price I paid.